I have sat down over the last few weeks and tried to write post after post about publishing. And have come up with nothing to say, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it's not really you guys--I'm still dealing with the situation in my family and it's eating up a large amount of my brainpower.

But secondly, there's not much to talk about, unless you'd like me to whip out the old doom and gloom schpiel again. Sales are down. Publishers are still buying sure bets only. I'm doing my damnedest to sell books, and being reassured that I'm not the only one who's having trouble selling great novels right now. I'm being extremely picky about who I take on as new clients, as a result, at least until the economy brightens up a bit. Cash flow is down for everyone.

But then, there still has to be a reason we do this, right? There has to be a reason why I work everyday, why I read manuscripts, why I work my butt off, literally, to sell domestic, foreign, and film rights. And it's not because of the money because while that would be nice, agents aren't rich people.

And then I read this article in the NY Times, and I realized that, of course, there's a reason I do this.

It's simply because I love books.

I cannot conceive of a world without books. I cannot conceive of children growing up and not loving books as much as I did. I cannot conceive of a publishing industry that doesn't love books as much as I do.

And you may call me idealistic--but here's the thing.

Publishing is definitely a business, but it's a business that has its roots in people who absolutely love books. They could just as easily be making widgets, but they choose to help make books. They manage the contracts. They edit the manuscripts. They design the covers. They balance the ledgers in the accounting department. They are the CEOs. They are the fresh-out-of-college interns. They are the typesetters, the booksellers, the librarians, the agents, the authors, the editors, and anyone who has ever opened a book and found themselves lost in a story.

We read because we need to believe that life is different, whether better or worse, and that we can experience that difference through a book. We read because it makes us human. We are human because we read.

And we are all involved in this crazy business of making and selling and producing books, for better or worse, because we love them. It may change drastically in the years or decades to come, but it will always be rooted in a love of the written word, whether for art or for profit. That's good enough for me.

(If there are any other publishing topics you'd like me to speak about, leave a note in the comments. I'll be at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in September, and will be looking forward to seeing book-people and talking shop.)

These are not in the order that I read them and I can't guarantee that I'm remembering all of them--I have yet to unpack the books I took to Odyssey with me.

But here's what I've read since I last did one of these...

26. THE WINDUP GIRL by Paolo Bacigalupi
Simply excellent. Paolo's my friend, so you may think that I'm writing all of this about the book out of friendship, but that's simply not the case. THE WINDUP GIRL is a dark and gritty look at an incredibly well-imagined future where calories are the currency and geneticists are assets. It sucks you into the futuristic Bangkok, to a land where the foreigners, the farang, are the hated ones, and then makes you care about all of these characters doing questionably moral things. I adored it. And what makes it so good, at least to me, what with all the current talk about including more people of color in novels--and I think that's a good thing--is that almost every main character in this novel *isn't* white. It makes it that more interesting and rich. Go buy the book now.

27. WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON by Julia Quinn
Julia Quinn seems to be getting her groove back...

28. A DUKE OF HER OWN by Eloisa James
Loved the end of the series.

29. FOREST BORN by Shannon Hale
While I love the Bayern books, I find that they're starting to fall into something of a pattern. I love Shannon's writing though, so I'm eagerly looking forward to whatever she does next. It's still a good book, but not a GREAT book.

30. WHO KILLED AMANDA PALMER by Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman
I'm not sure much can top the photos and the stories that go here; it's as much a work of art as it is a book.

31. STIFF by Mary Roach
I adored this book on cadavers, which says something about the quality of the writing. =)

32. THE LITTLE ICE AGE by Brian M. Fagan

33. THE END OF OVEREATING: TAKING CONTROL OF THE INSATIABLE AMERICAN APPETITE by David Kessler

Notice the non-fiction kick, which I've been expanding with other books about strange and varied topics.

34. DEVLIN'S LUCK by Patricia Bray
This was a nicely solid fantasy novel and it's good enough that I'm going to eventually go acquire books 2 and 3 in the trilogy.

35. THE BABY NAME WIZARD by Laura Wattenberg
No, I'm not pregnant. I like names. Their etymology is fascinating and this book takes a very interesting look at current American naming trends.

36. BOOK CRUSH by Nancy Pearl

37. DEADLY COMPANIONS: HOW MICROBES SHAPED OUR HISTORY by Dorothy H. Crawford

And that's it for now folks. I'm hunkering down and diving into manuscripts for awhile.

This should be an obvious concept to new authors who are submitting to agents, but it's come to my attention that we have a bit of a problem with this at the agency.

Let me explain.

My assistant, the fabulous Jodi Meadows, is a very nice person. So nice, in fact, that people have begun to take advantage of her. She takes time out of her day, unpaid time, mind you, and offers comments on the full manuscripts she reads and rejects on my behalf. She doesn't say that she wants to read the manuscript again. She doesn't give explicit instructions to resubmit the manuscript after radically revising it. She just offers some pointers on why it didn't work for the agency.

Yet, many of the people that she's offered this kind service to are now asking to resubmit their manuscript. They have somehow misinterpreted Jodi's kindness as an invitation to send us the same manuscript over and over again.

So I'm doing this post and explaining exactly what each rejection means.

If you send a query to the agency and we reject it, do not send a query again for the same novel. You may send a query for a different novel, but not for the same novel. I don't care if you've rewritten the novel before querying again. If we didn't ask for it, we don't want to see it.

If we've requested the partial manuscript of your novel and then rejected it, please do not send us a revised version of that partial manuscript. If we rejected your partial, it means that we don't want to see it again. Any suggestions or comments included with the rejection are meant for your edification as a writer.

Similarly, if we've requested the full manuscript of your novel and then rejected it, please do not send us a revised version of that full manuscript. If we rejected your full, it means that we don't' want to see it again. Any suggestions or comments included with the rejection are meant to help you grow as a writer.

There is ONE and only one exception to this. That is if either Jodi or I specifically say something like this in your rejection letter: "If you radically revise the novel according to these suggestions, I'd be happy to read the revised version." This means exactly what it says. If we liked your book enough that we want to give it a second chance, we'll extend that opportunity, if you want to put the work into changing it. If you don't want to do that, we're not mad or offended. It's all part of the business.

But the people who get that request are the ONLY PEOPLE who should be asking to submit a revised manuscript to The Rappaport Agency.

Otherwise, no really does mean no. Please try us again with a different novel.

I haven't felt much like blogging lately, largely I think because I'm enjoying the minor downtime I'm having between traveling everywhere. This has been the summer of travel and while I like travel, I also really, really like being at home.

And then I thought that it might be interesting to do an informal poll about what you like to do other than writing, and WHY you like to do it. Anything is fair game, as long as it doesn't involve writing. I'll start us off!

1. Cooking. I like to cook. I've been cooking up a storm since I've gotten home from Odyssey, partially because I have a kitchen with much, much better kitchen equipment here than I did in the dorm-apartments. A rough survey of what I've made recently includes: scones, dark chocolate sorbet, miso-marinated steak, tsukene-ni, spinach and basil pesto over cavatappi with cannellini, and ratatouille. I want to knock off some salted caramel ice cream before the summer is over, and I just ordered a rice cooker...
2. Knitting. I've spoken about knitting before, but I love doing it because it uses an entirely different part of my brain than reading and writing. I'm not coordinated; the fact that I can knit decently after four years is a testament to much, much practice. I also can't knit very much every day because of arthritis in my hands, but the knitting actually keeps my fingers nimble, so it's "medically prescribed". How's that for a hobby? =)
3. Video games. I think enough has been said about these, but I love RPGs and the Wii Fit and I have been friends again lately.
4. Watching TV. And here's where I have all the writers up in arms, saying that "How can you watch TV, when you have manuscripts to read and things to do?! How can I write and watch TV?" And my simple answer to that is your leaf mold. Yes, leaf mold. One of the things we went through at Odyssey was reading a very, very long essay by Tolkien called "On Fantasy", where he speaks about how everything you absorb through everyday life goes into your collective leaf mold in your brain. And then when you write, you unconsciously pull things out of your brain and use them. So I watch TV. I watch movies on Netflix. I watch Japanese dramas that are currently airing in Japan. I watch anime. I have a terrible love of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. Alton Brown and Good Eats is perpetually recorded on my DVR. I don't spend all my time watching TV, not by any means, but at least for me, it's stress-relieving and not always mindless. Plus, sooner or later, it all gets pulled out of my collective leaf mold.
   

And that's four things from me. So, my question to all of you! What do you do other than writing and why do you like to do it? Do you feel any of it makes you a better writer? Do you disagree with me about watching TV? Debate away!

District 9 was harsh, a bit gross, and very, very beautiful.

Granted, that's a strange thing to say about a science fiction movie with crustacean-like aliens, but the story itself was beautiful. It made me really care about the prawns and I even liked Wikus a bit by the end. Just a bit, mind you. It's essentially apartheid told through a science fictional setting, but I think the director does it really well. Go out and see it, if it's playing near you.

I figured now is as good a time as any to do one of these posts.

Recent Books:

THE BURNING SKIES by David J. Williams is the second book in the Autumn Rain trilogy. The espionage and long games get taken to space for hyperactive battles and double-crosses. It's good. It's really, really good, and there are things coming that you never saw.

LIBYRINTH by Pearl North. A fantastic YA novel about the power of reading and the power of song. It's the one book I'd want my daughter to read, if I had a daughter. LIBYRINTH is the first of a trilogy, so start reading it now!

BY BLOOD WE LIVE edited by John Joseph Adams is another fantastic reprint anthology from Night Shade Books. It's vampires this time, and includes stories from Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, L. A. Banks, Joe Hill, and Kelley Armstrong, among many other very fine authors.









THE KING'S DAUGHTERS by Nathalie Mallet. The sequel to THE PRINCES OF THE GOLDEN CAGE takes Prince Amir up to icy Sorvinka, where he must figure out the mystery of why the king's daughters are being transmuted into bears.

Upcoming Books:

THE IMPROBABLE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES edited by John Joseph Adams hits store shelves in September 2009. It's a great anthology focused on the intersection of fantasy and mystery that lies at the heart of all good Sherlock Holmes fiction. Featuring stories from mystery authors like Laurie R. King and Anne Perry, as well as stories from fantasy authors like Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman.

WINTER SONG by Colin Harvey is part of the second wave of launch titles from Angry Robot, the new science fiction imprint of HarperCollins UK. It will be available in the UK in October 2009 and in the US in February 2010. HOWEVER! And this is a big however! You can order the book from Book Depository UK, in US dollars, with FREE shipping for $6.84. It will come in a handy package from the Royal Mail in about five days. I order all the UK editions of books I want that way, and I highly recommend it for getting Colin's book in time for this holiday season. You'll notice the link points to Book Depository for you.



WINTER SONG is classic hard science-fiction with a singularity spin on it. Quoting from the description on HarperCollins Australia's site:

"The planet had fallen off the map.

When Karl Altman′s spaceship crashed, he had only one question:

"HOW THE HELL DO I GET OUT OF HERE?"

Rock-hard sci-fi adventure. No-one here gets out alive.

When his spaceship crashes on an unknown and forgotten planet, scientist Karl Altman discovers himself hunted by an ancient race. The descendants of a Viking race have reverted to a savage culture of sacrifice, pillage and violence. When Karl falls in love with an outcast girl, he has only one goal: escape. But escape is a distant dream on this nightmare planet."

It's the book that made me sign Colin as a client, and it will hopefully be the first of many deals I do with the guys at Angry Robot.

There will also be various foreign editions of books that I've sold, as well as book club editions of a few. Keep an eye out for them, if you're looking for that sort of thing.

I'm pretty sure my camera is completing the last slow gallop to its death, which makes sense since it's four years old and has been pretty much everywhere with me. Not all of my photos came out great, but I got enough of them to come out decently so I can post them. Be warned that this is a very, very picture-heavy post.

There are more pictures in this Flickr photo set. (ETA: They're higher resolution and look better than the embedded ones in the post, just to let you know.)

To start with, I got dressed and got ready and rode the elevator down in the Delta. That's Montreal in the background.



I met John and Rob in the convention center for the Hugo reception, which is held before the actual ceremony. Rob and I got to be John's dates for the evening. John was accepting for John Klima (Electric Velocipede), Gordon Van Gelder, and Charles Coleman Finlay. John forgot the invitation to the Hugo reception, so he had to go back to his hotel. I took pictures because I was bored.

This is Rob and the colored glass of the convention center.



Then, John came back, and we went upstairs to the seventh floor of the convention center. We were early, so I took more pictures!

This is Ellen Datlow.



This is Frank Wu and his wife, Brianna.



This is me!



This is John, me, and Rob. Notice how I'm totally dressed up for the three of us.



This is John, Yves Meynard, who was the co-host of the ceremony, and Ellen Datlow.



Then, more people started showing up! This is Campbell nominee, Aliette de Bodard and her fiance.



This is Elizabeth Bear and Amanda Downum.



This is the famous Teddy, child employee of Locus. She is a total pip and I adore her. =)



The Scalzis, looking awfully serious. One would imagine you would look serious if you were up for three Hugos.



Then, finally, they let us into the reception, where they had wine and very tasty finger food. This is Mary Robinette Kowal, rocking this dress. Bear, Amanda, and I decided that Mary shouldn't be allowed to attend events with the rest of us because she looks so good.



This is Paul Cornell, clearly excited to be here. I think this is the favorite picture of all I took!



This is Cory Doctorow and his lovely wife, Alice. That's Cory's wedding suit, apparently, and he was very excited to wear it.



This is my buddy, Paolo Bacigalupi.



We all mingled for quite awhile, and then they started introducing the designer of the Hugo base, Dave Howell. We all gathered round and ooh-ed and aah-ed, until they unveiled it.

This is the unveiled Hugo.



After that, we mingled some more, and they started photographing the nominees in their respective categories. I took some more pictures, until I abandoned that for a glass of wine. Then, they gave us seating instructions, and herded us out to go sit in the fancy seats, otherwise known as rows 2-6. Thrilling, I know.

And then we had an awards ceremony! The details of that have been repeated many other places, but I have a few favorite shots to round out the evening before my camera batteries died. Several of them are of the big screen, since I was too far away for closer shots.

This is David Anthony Durham, looking flabbergasted at his Campbell win.



This is John Klima's Hugo at John's feet, after he had accepted it.



This is Bear looking very, very emotional as she accepted her Hugo for Best Novelette.



Here are a bunch of the Hugo winners posing on the stage after the ceremony.



And finally, to wrap it up, here are Jonathan Strahan holding Ted Chiang's Hugo, Teddy of Locus, and John Joseph Adams holding John Klima's Hugo.



I hope you have enjoyed your pictorial guide to the Hugos! =)

I'm going to upload all my Worldcon pictures in a bit, and then put them on Flickr, and then do a selected pictorial post of the Hugos. John Klima, if you read this, I have several pictures of your individual Hugo, since John Joseph Adams accepted it for you.

In the meantime, I thought it would be good to list all the good things about this Worldcon.

1. The food. Literally, the food. I ate my way through Montreal. I can heartily recommend Les Pyrenees, Le Bourlingeuer, and Totally Natural/Stew Stop in Old Montreal. I had dinners at all of them, and they rocked. I cannot wholeheartedly recommend the food at the Delta Centre-Ville, but among their specialties, I particularly enjoyed the creme brulee and the croissants. Also, for a chain, Van Hoote has some mighty fine hot chocolate.
   
2. Doing an anime panel at 7pm at night and having over 100 people for it. That was seriously cool.
3. Entertaining a packed room at a 9pm panel with Walter Jon Williams. It was supposed to be a liar's panel about publishing, but Lou Anders couldn't make it (he was accepting an award), so it ended up being about ten minutes of joking and fifty minutes of serious publishing advice. Walter and I held our own pretty well, I think, and I even got to interview him about his publishing history and his thoughts on James Michener. I should also go read one of his books now... (Walter's books, I mean, not Michener; I've read most of Michener's)
   
4. Doing a race panel, which I had dreaded, but which turned out to be great. Tobias Buckell was on it with me, as well as four lovely women whose names have escaped me. They were great though.
5. Getting to buy Paolo Bacigalupi's new book, THE WINDUP GIRL. It is made of sheer awesomeness, and if you love science fiction, you will go buy it now. Not later. Now.
6. Getting Paolo to sign my book, which was also great. =) It's so nice to get personalized books when you know the authors.
   
7. Meeting my client, Colin Harvey, for the first time!
8. Catching up with the rest of my clients who were there, and talking business and fun with all of them.
9. Meeting the Angry Robot guys! Meeting Angstrom, their dear robot, as well.
10. Meeting people I hadn't met before, even though I talk to them online and through e-mail, including Aliette de Bodard, Cheryl Morgan, Kyle Cassidy, and Neil Gaiman.
11. Getting a chance to see my Odyssey classmate, Brad Hafford, again. I missed Buck, who was there too, but I saw Brad!
12. The Tor party, as usual.
13. All of the closed parties, including the impromptu one that Pablo threw in his room and the Night Shade one whose door I had to kick to get in. =)
14. Meeting lots and lots of new friends, including Julie, Annie, Teddy, and many others.
15. Getting to be a "pro" in the Writer's Workshop along with Colin Harvey and David D. Levine. Listening to David and Colin compare writing process was fascinating.
16. Getting the chance to talk to lots and lots and lots of people. If you haven't figured out by now, I am a natural extrovert. I thrive on cons. I thrive on talking to people. I'm home now and I dearly love my husband and my cat... but they're not lots and lots of people. =)
17. Finding out that there's a good chance that John and I can be on the cover of THE LIVING DEAD 2, since the artist, David Palumbo, lives down in Philly. I get to be a zombie! How cool is that?
18. Discovering that all of my friends in science fiction seem to know how gullible I am, and that they all enjoy teasing me, especially the guys. Oh woe is me.
19. The Hugos.
20. Getting treated as a professional based on being a literary agent, but also getting the chance to talk about my own writing. I really enjoyed being able to wear both hats.

Most of all, I loved that I got to meet so many other cool people whose names I haven't mentioned. I will miss the fact that I'm not going to Australia next year, but I will be at World Fantasy this year, and there's a small chance that I may pop over to the UK for World Horror/Eastercon. If I do that, I will definitely hold some sort of meetup in London, where if you're in the UK, you can come meet me in a coffee shop and babble at me. I babble back. Sounds fun, doesn't it? =)

I am typing this on my Blackberry in the Delta lobby, so I apologize if there are typos. The Worldcon Hugos post will be coming later today or tomorrow, once I upload my photos.

This post, however, will address a question I have. Namely, why is it perceived as wrong or bad for people to critique conventions?

This springs from a conversation I was having with John Joseph Adams, where he mentioned that an unknown person had been offended by what I had written about Wiscon this year. And while I felt I was brutally honest in that post, I disagreed with what the unknown person had said, which went something along the lines of "She basically said 'F-you, Wiscon'." Which I hadn't said. And then John brought up the fact that people had been angry or annoyed with something Cat Valente had said about Readercon. And while I personally like Readercon, I wouldn't have been mad if Cat had criticized it. (I haven't read her blog post.)

Because good OR bad, I think criticism makes cons better. They're a lot of work to run, and I do appreciate the effort of all the volunteers. But if you consider the fact that in about 30 years, my generation will be running cons, then I don't understand why I'm not allowed to criticize, and more importantly, LEARN about how to run a con from my criticism and people's responses to it.

Kevin Standlee, for instance, has been kind and polite the last few days while we've been chatting about con logistics and what goes into planning them. I appreciate him taking the time to talk to me and to teach me. I want to take what I'm learning and help with future Worldcons and other conventions.

But my point remains the same that we wouldn't have been having this discussion, if I hadn't been complaining about my blisters (which are on my thighs, not my feet, and are very, very painful; I have been hobbling and sitting a lot) in a prior blog post.

I don't understand why it's viewed as bad to honestly critique a con, and I'd welcome people's thoughts on it.

And now, to catch my plane! :)

Neil Gaiman's Clarionite ducklings, to be precise. One is Megan and one is Keffy and one is Emily and one is Kat, I think. They are nice, although, well, ducklings. =) It's sort of weird to feel like I'm the experienced one from working in the industry for four years and being around cons, but I am. Perhaps I'm turning into a duck? Or a swan? I could deal with being a swan. =)

I'm exhausted, by the way. There was no Neil Gaiman with the ducklings, for those that will ask, although I observed him being mobbed by fans earlier in the evening.

I will write more tomorrow, once I get up or get back to NJ. I return back home tomorrow, btw.

Briefly:

Went to the pre-Hugo reception with John Joseph Adams and Rob. Saw a lot of awesome people, took a ton of pictures, hung out with Teddy (of Locus fame) who is my new con best friend. (Teddy is 9.) Went to the actual Hugos. Enjoyed those. Went to the Hugo Losers party. Enjoyed that until they put the food away after about 20 minutes and it got positively mobbed by gatecrashers. Went upstairs and changed into normal clothes, found JJA, Rob, and Irene Gallo, and adjourned to the Intercontinental bar. There were lots and lots of people at the bar and we hung out in a corner and were sleepy and very hungry (according to Rob, I complained about being hungry for four straight hours; he also had four beers over four hours, which seems to be commensurate with my complaining).

The IC bar shut down, but the glorious Pablo Defendini invited us up to his room for a Rock Band party. Alas, Rock Band was not to be, but Liz Gorinsky ordered food, and we all hung out and talked and really had fun. For my own notes, the following people were there, so I remember to try and talk about them in the next post: me, Pablo, Liz, Irene, JJA, Rob, John Picacio, Lou Anders, Paolo Bacigalupi, the Clarionite ducklings, Paul Cornell, Geoff Ryman, and Jeremy Lassen. It was intimate and lovely and Liz made my day by ordering pizza for us to ravenously consume.

Now I am back, and it's time to sleep before I have to get up to yell at the hotel that I want a late checkout.

... that Julie and I were totally evil on Friday night and completely frustrated by the outrageous waits for an elevator to go between floors 5 and 28 (the party floors). So we rode the service elevators up and down all night, sometimes just us, and sometimes with an entire entourage.

This is what happens when literary agents go bad.

We ride service elevators.

Isn't that thrilling and evil and so against the rules? =)

Which should be a pretty good sign that I'm not really fit to write this blog post, but I'm waiting up to see if the hotel can find me some salt, so that I can make salt water to soak my blisters. Hence, a blog post.

Yesterday was a terribly full day. I had four panels; I missed one due to oversleeping; I don't feel terrible about it though because I had specifically said I couldn't do anything before noon and they didn't listen... it was for 10 am. This leads me, by the way, into one of my biggest complaints about this Worldcon--I don't think it's very well run. Sure, the organizers have certainly tried hard, but there's a lot of things that could have been done better.

I've heard countless complaints about the scheduling difficulties people have had for their programming. Some people were placed on children's programming and had no idea what to do with it. Most perplexing though is the utter lack of logistical organization in regards to the hotels and the convention center. I am staying at the Delta. The Delta is 1.0 km from the convention center, Google Maps tells me, and yet it's THE CONVENTION HOTEL. You might think, "Oh, there are no other hotels nearby!" But you are grievously wrong if you do, since there are at least two hotels directly across from the convention center, and several more nearby that are closer to walk to. I have freaking blisters from the fact that I think I've walked about twelve miles in the last three days, and that's not even counting walking IN the convention center itself. I am not pleased. I wouldn't have booked a room in this hotel, if I had realized just how far away it was. Do you hear me, Worldcon organizers? I'm not the only one who is perplexed and displeased about this.

That said, I'm still having fun, albeit LIMPING fun. (Oh dear, I'm using lots of capital letters for emphasis; I apologize in advance.)

Yesterday was busy during the day with the panels and meetings with clients. Then, I hit the parties, including Angry Robot and the Tor.com Rock Band party. We ended up at the Intercontinental bar again (note, it's damn close to the convention center), where we somehow devolved into playing Truth or Dare with some form of weird complicating other parts. We all wussed out and chose truth, but we did learn some interesting things, and Annie sang us a lovely song in Gaelic (she chose a dare).

As a side note, I got to meet two very neat people and blog readers yesterday, Julie Klumb and Annie Buhl. I didn't see Annie today, but I got to hang out with Julie again today, and I love her to pieces. Both of them are truly awesome, and if you can see them at a con, you should!

I also got to hang out with Derek Molata and my dear friend, Holly. It was wonderful to get to see them both too. I hung out with a lot of people, and ended up going to bed at 5am.

I slept.

Cue today, where I got up at noon, did Jenny-getting-ready things, and ended up having a very nice lunch with my client, Colin Harvey. I was going to go to the Odyssey reunion dinner, but my blisters were killing me, and I retreated to my room to try to sulk and treat them (I fear I will be getting much blister advice from this post; I don't need it, so feel free not to give it!). After that ordeal, I found Derek and Holly, took a cab to Old Montreal to find them, and we slowly wandered to eat dinner. We eventually had a giant group of eight people, and no restaurant would seat us but this place called the Stew Stop. I was cranky and hungry and threatening to possibly eat my dining companions; I gathered most people in the group felt the same way. =)

We sat down. There was one waiter. He was very cute and quite nice, but very inadequate for his job. We stayed anyway, which was a good thing, because the food was really good. I had some form of pasta with vegetables (vegetables, at a Worldcon!), and they comped us several good desserts. Then I called the cab company, and Derek, Holly, and I went back to our respective hotels.

I then wandered the party floors, searching endlessly for the Night Shade party. John Joseph Adams has been part of my con posse for years now, but I couldn't find him and Rob, who were definitely at the party. Finally, after going around in circles, talking to Cory Doctorow (who never did find the party), I found Liza from Locus who told me where it was.

I got up to the closed room and knocked on the door. I knocked again. No one answered. Notice, by the way, that I completely didn't see the doorbell for the room. So I resorted to kicking the bottom of the door until Jeremy Lassen opened it up. =)

And there was all my people! John, Rob, Jeremy, my new friend, Julie! And Ann Vandermeer, Paolo Bacigalupi (who the party was in honor of), Liz Gorinsky, Ross Lockhart, and many cool other people. I loved the fact that I got the chance to have real conversations with people, since it was a closed party, and the door was locked to all who dared enter. We pulled Holly and Derek into the party eventually, and the Angry Robot guys and Colin Harvey came by too. I discovered that Lee Harris of Angry Robot is hilariously funny; that Rob likes "Sex and the City"; that Julie used to teach hardcore high school science (and met her husband in an interesting way); and that everyone there was just awesome. I had a lovely, lovely time.

The hotel has kindly brought me an entire salt shaker to use to soak my blisters in saltwater, and I shall go do that too. Tomorrow, I get to go to the Hugos with John and Rob (Rob and I are John's dates; he's accepting for three people), so I will be sure to report on that. And do follow me on Twitter, as I'm updating as I remember to do so. One panel tomorrow and I'm done! =)

No, you're not reading the subject line wrong.

Dear Internet, I had one of the most bizarre and interesting experiences of the day tonight. I was at the Tor party, in fact, had been at the Tor party for at least a good two hours. I was watching my friends get slightly drunker and the room fill up even more.

And then Neil Gaiman walked in. With Neil, came an entire entourage of people that he had taught at Clarion last year. Including Keffy, who is friends with one of my best friends, Spencer Ellsworth. I wanted to talk to Keffy more, since I hadn't been feeling great at Wiscon, when I first met him. That was easier said than done. It involved being crushed against the bar downstairs for another ten minutes, and then finally making my way up the stairs to the second level (there were two levels). Once I achieved the goal of getting off the stairs, I was unable to move any further. I was hemmed in by Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi talking in front of me, Keffy to my right, and a crowd of people behind me. There was no going anywhere.

Keffy and I endured. I couldn't really talk to him because there was no way to talk, as we got pushed back and forth several times by people attempting to get up to see Neil. I managed to witness Robert Sawyer jumping on the bed, by glimpsing past people's heads. And then Kyle Cassidy, the photographer, turned up, and Neil started shouting, "Kyle's got a fish eye lens! Let's all go into the bathroom!".

Keffy followed Neil. I followed Keffy. Someone else followed me.

And that is how I found myself standing in a bathroom that had a bathtub full of beer. Neil Gaiman was directly behind me. Clarion people were all around me. The door was closed and Kyle Cassidy was standing on the toilet, his head touching the ceiling, as he told us to smile and shot many, many pictures with his fish eye lens.

It was very, very neat in a completely weird way.

Today, which started a bit before I wrote the first post, began with me waking up and deciding I was too tired to get to a 9:30 breakfast at wherever John Joseph Adams and his friend, Rob, are staying. I was going to go back to sleep, but then Aliette de Bodard e-mailed me back... and I realized that she and T. L. Morganfield were in the lobby of the Delta... so I went and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. And while it was good, it was somewhat expensive for breakfast, so I think I will attempt to eat elsewhere from now. But oh boy, they had croissants. I adore croissants. I wish I could subsist on them. =)

After breakfast, I went back, blogged, and then went to get ready for my author reading. I'm not sure why they gave ME an author reading, since I havent published any fiction. . .yet. . .but I was honored nonetheless.

And I'd like to personally thank each and every one of the seven people who stayed for the entire half hour. Thank you. =) I know that I'm not Alma Alexander (who was supposed to share my reading spot, but couldn't make it), but thank you, nonetheless! I read "The Black Veils" and "The Taste of Memory", if you'd like a reference. I need to do a polish on the second story, but I'm hoping to place "The Black Veils" at some point. =) It was nice to be a bit of a writer at the con too. And Ellen from Odyssey came, which was lovely! Thank you, Ellen! =)

When the reading was over, I retreated to the program participant Green Room for a bit. Had some water and maple cookies (Oh, Canada, how I heart you =), and then went back to find my second panel. I got to debate the merits of Twitter, Facebook, and social media with John Picacio, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Walter Jon Williams. I knew everyone, but Walter--who claims that he's boring online and in person--but who I found to be lovely. I wish that I could have chatted more with him, but he left shortly after the panel. Twitter was down during our panel; oh, the irony. Well, it was down for me on Twitterberry; John seemed to get through fine on Tweetdeck.

I'm running out of time before dinner, but quickly: hot chocolate/coffee with Mary Robinette Kowal; prowling the dealer's room and getting a copy of ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS by Neil Gaiman; talking to Ross Lockhart at Night Shade's table; seeing Jeremy Lassen in the dealer's room, who was rocking a curry-colored suit; meeting a very, very sleep-deprived Patrick Rothfuss (he's very nice); hanging with the Locus crew, meeting Liza's new darling baby, and finally getting to meet Cory Doctorow in person.

And that's been my day so far. =) I'm off to change into fresh clothes, and head out to take my clients out for fancy French food at Le Bourlingeuer. Yum, yum. =)

Good morning, loyal LIT SOUP readers! As many of you know, I'm at Worldcon now, and will be blogging for www.conreporter.com, as well. So this post will be tagged accordingly.

I'm pleased to report that I arrived in Montreal yesterday afternoon, at about 5pm, with just a slight flight delay. The Montreal airport is very clean and very long. We walked through an endless, wide, labyrinth of corridors following signs that had happy luggage symbols on them. They're not kidding when they tell you that people here really do prefer to speak French. And being as I can't speak a word of French other than Bonjour and Merci...it's a tiny bit overwhelming. =) On the other hand, one can really imagine that you're in a foreign country, even though it's just Canada. And technically, Canada is a foreign country, but the English speaking portions are so similar to the US that it's hard to tell when you visit those areas.

Anyway, arrived at the airport, breezed through customs, and got an actual stamp in my passport. Despite going several places with it, I've never gotten a real stamp--I'm happy to report that it's as cool as I thought it would be! I got here and wandered around my hotel for a bit. I ran into Matt Rotundo and Paolo Bacigalupi, hugged both, and with their help I located the restaurant where Lou Anders of Pyr was twittering. I hung out with Lou for awhile, meeting two gentlemen from Israel, Jetse de Vries (sp?), and a lovely guy whose name I can't recall. After awhile, Cheryl Morgan managed to get herself out of the airport and to my hotel, and I got to meet her in person! I've been talking to Cheryl online for months now, but I had never met her in person, so I was very happy!

By the time Cheryl found me, Paul Cornell (of Dr. Who fame) had joined us too. Cheryl, Paul, and Lou all compared what day they got to have a meal with Neil Gaiman this weekend (I do not have a meal with Mr. Gaiman =). We then decamped to Old Montreal, where we had an absolutely excellent meal at a French-Catalan restaurant called Les Pyrennes. It was delicious beyond belief. I had a glazed duck pastry, twelve hour braised lamb, and a giant profiterole for dessert. Cheryl could speak more French than the rest of us, so she was able to be kind to the waitstaff, and they just put up with the rest of us. =) They did give us menus in English though, for which I was everlastingly grateful.

After dinner, we went back towards the hotels and convention center. I'm staying at the Delta, but people are scattered around the area. The Delta is the party hotel (my reason for staying there), but the Intercontinental is where the "official" bar is. So to the Intercontinental we went, where we discovered a very classy-looking bar. Complete with George R. R. Martin holding court at a corner table; I was not brave enough to introduce myself to him. =)

Also at the bar were John Scalzi and his wife, Krissy; Pablo Defendini, Farrah Mendelsohn, Ellen Klages, Mary Robinette Kowal, and many others whose names immediately escape me. Ellen insisted on starting her own lounge table because she had a zeppelin. Which was hilarious, even though I wasn't drinking... but this is Ellen Klages who I've found to be generally funny whenever I encounter her at a convention. I left early, at about midnight, because my right shoulder has been killing me lately (yay, arthritis!). Came back to my room, read e-mail, and collapsed into bed. Totally forgot to charge my Blackberry...

And now, I'm going to unpack the rest of my clothes from my suitcase, take a shower, and hie myself over to the convention center to register and do my reading at 12:30pm. Tonight, more parties, attempting to critique people's stories for the writer's workshop, and dinner with my clients!

I am incredibly proud and pleased to announce that THE LIVING DEAD edited by John Joseph Adams has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. Woo-hoo!!!! (You just missed the part where I danced around my office after calling John and getting his voicemail. Picture it in your head. =)

I would be completely remiss as a literary agent, if I didn't tell you that Amazon is shipping the newest John Joseph Adams' anthology, BY BLOOD WE LIVE--a full nine days before the official release date! Go forth and and get yours before the brick and mortar stores put them out! Be the totally cool kid on the block. And most importantly, admire the cover, which I think is creepy and gorgeous at the same time.

Plus, it's vampires. Whether you like yours sparkly or scary, this book has something for everyone. =)

Just a note to mention that I'm currently fairly snowed under with catching up with this summer's work. Jodi did a great job while I was away, but there's still a lot that I have to deal with myself. I'm also dealing with some bad news within my family, so please bear with me.

In the meantime, consider this an open blog post to comment on books, movies, music, etc, that you've seen and want to pimp. I'll unmoderate comments, but won't be able to contribute much to the discussion.

I'll start it off by saying that I'm reading THE LORD OF THE SANDS OF TIME by Issui Ogawa and liking it very much.